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luck could very well change this season team is older and some power bats are gone dont bother with ibanez wont catch lightning in a bottle twice upton is a start in the rite direction banuelos is a bust allready so is betances they both walk everyone and cant stay healthy i like williams and sanchez but i like upton in his prime with lots of upside more and by the way this team needs a catcher

luck could very well change this season team is older and some power bats are gone dont bother with ibanez wont catch lightning in a bottle twice upton is a start in the rite direction banuelos is a bust allready so is betances they both walk everyone and cant stay healthy i like williams and sanchez but i like upton in his prime with lots of upside more and by the way this team needs a catcher

With an ownership mandate to have a payroll below the $189M competitive balance tax (CBT) threshold, the Yankees are positioning themselves for a fascinating offseason next year. This fall/winter has not and likely will not bring any prize free agents to the club, as to avoid any long-term commitments, which would make it more difficult to manage the luxury tax threshold.

As of now, there are five players with guaranteed contracts for the 2014 season (potentially four if Jeter opts out/retires, but for the purpose of this article, we'll assume he exercises his $8M option + at least $1.5M bonuses). The Jeter situation could be a very tricky situation for the Yankees, as illustrated in an excellent article over at The Captain's Blog. So, the five commitments for 2014 and their CBT payroll hit: Alex Rodriguez ($27.5M), CC Sabathia ($24.4M), Mark Teixeira ($22.5M), Derek Jeter ($15.5M), and Ichiro ($6.5M). There are arbitration cases (notably Brett Gardner and David Robertson) and player benefit costs, but there still will be plenty of room to fit Robinson Cano into the payroll.

Yet, what if someone like the Dodgers blow him away and meets his 10 year, $200M demand? Sure, he may get $20M AAV for any contract length, but do the Yankees want to sign him through his age-40 season? I doubt it. Not only do second baseman age poorly, but the Yankees have been burned on these type of deals time and time again (Jason Giambi, Rodriguez, potentially Teixeira).

From some blog...

Leo's Thought Of The Day

Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.

I could see us being a 90 win team this season. We lose the offense of ARod, Swisher, and Martin. But we do gain a full season of Ichiro (For what it's worth), Youk, and Gardner being back.

Not to mention a full year of Mariano and Aardsma and, to a lesser extent, Pettitte, Joba and Robertson. And throw in whatever you expect from Pineda for a half season or so. I'm thinking ~80 league average innings is reasonably possible assuming a starting pitcher role for a majority of his time at the major league level this season. And that's coming out of the last spot in the rotation.

The success of this year's team is going to be heavily predicated on the overall durability of our regulars and the ability to stave off age-related declines in several key positions. We were a 95 win team last season with a great deal of injuries, many of them long term. So I think we have a good shot at a wash if the injury frequency regresses back towards the mean. Ideally this team should have a great bench to mitigate some of that risk but that still remains to be seen.

Yeah it sucks the way it turned out. Although sometimes I feel as though its better off for a starter to get it over with at this stage and then come back, hopefully stronger (especially considering the leaps we've made with Tommy John surgery) and able to continue their development with the injury/surgery behind them.

This may bear no truth in reality but I also feel that it can help motivate a player to come back with a better work ethic and desire to succeed in order to prove himself and to assuage any skepticism or doubts regarding their ability to return to prior effectiveness. Who knows, maybe that drive can stick for the long run.